The Airmen's Stories - Mid. (FAA) P J Patterson
Peter John Patterson was born in January 1921 in Kings Norton, Birmingham, the son of Horace John Patterson and Nellie Terry Patterson (nee Crabbe).
He entered the Air Branch of the Royal Navy on 1st July 1939, rated as a Midshipman. He did his elementary flying training at 24 EFTS Sydenham.
He went to 7 FTS Peterborough for No. 7 (FAA) Course, which ran from 11th December 1939 to 27th May 1940.
With the course completed, Patterson was attached to the RAF on 15th June. He went to 7 OTU Hawarden, converted to Spitfires and joined 242 Squadron at Coltishall on 1st July.
He was killed on 20th August 1940 when his Hurricane, P 2967, dived vertically into the sea and exploded, five miles NE of Winterton during a squadron patrol, from an unknown cause.
Patterson was 19. He is remembered on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-Solent.
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